An introduction to grooming at an early age is essential for your pet’s happy grooming life.
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Puppies
We recommend that puppies be groomed two weeks after their second vaccination or on the vet’s recommendation.
An introduction to grooming for a puppy includes face trimming, pad and sanitary clipping, a warm bath and blow dry on low setting, brush and combing, check of your current tools, and nail clipping.
We can also complete a haircut for their first grooming as an option, but dogs generally respond better to a gentle introduction at a very early age.
We still recommend twice weekly brushing/combing in between. The best way to do this is on a high surface with someone distracting/holding the front end or a filled Kong to keep the puppy distracted. The feeling of combing and brushing can be pretty strange for puppies, and they may bite as they teeth. Please avoid letting your dog chew your fingers and the brush, as this can teach a negative learned behaviour.
Regular 3-4 weekly grooming (every second is a full groom) will help your dog become an angel on the grooming table for you and your groomer. If your pet becomes naughty or stressed, we are open to weekly free grooming desensitisation lessons for some dogs (time and behaviour permitting, bookings essential). We only take puppies on a 3-4 weekly schedule, necessary for their grooming life. Sorry, we do not accept large or extra-large breeds for clipping.
All puppies undergo a coat change at 6-14 months. The coat is more challenging to maintain during this stage, so daily brushing sessions are best.
That super soft, fluffy, easy-care puppy coat will transition into the adult coat around that age, becoming high maintenance (at least in the short term). The thicker adult coat replaces the thinner puppy coat, and coat texture and colour may change, too. It may become less or curlier, the coat colour may darken or lighten, and the shedding rate may change. Haircuts at this age can look uneven due to the curly part and soft straight coat with some breeds and cross breeds. Unfortunately, this change also causes the coat to seem to become extremely prone to knots and mats suddenly, and daily brushing is highly recommended during the change. We recommend regular puppy tidy-ups until the adult coat is fully formed. If not kept on top, a pup’s first visit to the groomer may result in the coat being cut short of removing the mats.
Using a pin brush or slicker brush, help brush out that stuck puppy coat to prevent knots from forming. Follow with a comb. If not removed promptly while forming, knots can turn into mats that sit against the skin and cause serious health concerns, from discomfort to nasty skin infections. Make sure to brush right down to the skin, brushing section by section, swapping to a slicker brush or wide comb when you find a tangle or knot (a detangler spray, such as Secret Weapon, is excellent for reducing discomfort when removing knots and reducing static while brushing). Spend extra time on friction areas, including behind the ears, paws, armpits, ankles, base of the tail, and around the neck, which tend to be the most knot-prone areas.
All Dogs shed! Some just shed into their coat, causing knots if not brushed (why do you get hair in the brush if they don’t shed?)
Watch our webinar with Colleen of Manners n More Training for our recommendations for maintenance tools. See Video here
Puppy Pricing:
Book your puppy in for their first introductory session now! Limited availability. Please note we only take puppies on a 3-4 weekly schedule.
Kitten Grooming
We recommend that kittens under six months of age have their first bath and blow-dry. We also give discounts to kittens that have their first grooming before six months of age, as we think it is essential.
Kitten grooming can include nail clipping, nail caps, sanitary shaves, or bath and brushing.
A cat can take up to 2 years to develop a full-shedding coat and undergo changes, so please don’t think your kitten’s coat will be easy to maintain.
Cats are born with soft, downy fur; their coats grow with them as they move out of the newborn phase. In most breeds and types of cats, the “kitten coat” is shorter, softer, and less glossy than the fur they will wear as an adult. Sometime between the age of 6 and 12 months, as the kitten reaches adolescence, he will begin to shed his baby fur, and the lovely coat he will wear for his adult years develops. Before this time, cat owners will have noticed minimal shedding. But during this time of transition, all that changes.
Like all mammals, cats have hair. That hair grows from follicles located in the skin. Cats have what are known as compound follicles, which means that as many as 30 hairs can grow from each follicle. By comparison, human follicles grow only one lonely hair each. As the kitten coat begins to pull away from the follicle to make room for the adult coat, suddenly, you may find tumbleweeds of hair under the sofa and clumps on your best shirt.
Kittens are very noise-sensitive and jumpy, so around 4-6 months is ideal. We have you stay for your kitten’s first grooming, so there is no need to worry about what is happening to your kitty.
Kittens should have 6-12 weekly baths and brushes, especially if longhairs and high maintenance, such as Maine Coons, Ragdolls, and British Longhair. We recommend that Persian, Himalayan and Exotic cats are on a 4-6 weekly cycle for optimum coat maintenance.
Book your kitten grooming introduction now